It was a summer full of sun and fun and friends and booze and snacks and work and play and everything that is good in the world. If only it would rain here in California, life would be perfect.

I’m a bad blogger in that I don’t update very often and I do not take a picture of every moment/meal/highlight/lowlight of my life. There’s a song on John Mayer’s first album called 3×5 and I often find myself singing that song to myself when I should have/could have/would have taken a picture of something…but just couldn’t be bothered to. It not only helps me not feel guilty about what I could be sharing, but it helps me to become more present in the moment myself.

didn’t have a camera by my side this timehoping I would see the world through both my eyesmaybe I’ll tell you all about it when I’min the mood to lose my way with words

I’m not so much in the mood to lose my way with words, but I’ll give you a glimpse of the fantastic summer we’ve had in the few pics that were captured. People elsewhere look at summer as ending on Labor Day. September is when the weather gets really nice here (admittedly, it has been 75 and sunny every day for months…). More adventures to come!

MAY
We spent Memorial Weekend in Tahoe. The highlight of the weekend was hooking up with Sarah and her family. I got to meet baby London for the first time! I also got to ride my first motorized cooler, which was as awesome as both my and Sterling’s expressions indicate. (pardon the quality of these pics, they were obviously impromptu snapshots)

JUNE
We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with a pub crawl down B Street in San Mateo. Walking distance from home, THANK GOODNESS.

JULY
We spent the long 4th of July weekend in Tahoe and the Lakes Basin Recreation Area. Mountain biking, hiking/running, swimming, drinking, and disconnecting from technology. It was fantastic.

A week later, I was off to Dallas for the J.Hilburn Annual Conference.

AUGUST
We completed a Midwest tour that involved a lot of driving, a lot of Tank 7, and seeing a lot of important people. Lake Okoboji was a highlight.

Once again, we spent Labor Day in Tahoe and the Lakes Basin, where I mountain biked 4 out of 5 days. I can honestly say I’m getting better at this sport!

The fifth day of the trip included a hilly 6 mile run with a beautiful reward at the top:

Do you guys realize it’s May? Sorry I dropped off the earth for the first almost-half of the year. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Not Training for Anything!
This is probably the most exciting thing I have going on: I’m NOT racing Wildflower this weekend! The crew that usually attends/races is not doing it this year and we were not gung-ho to go ourselves because the drought California is enduring has forced the race organizers to change the event. The water capacity is at a mere 5% of normal. While I do not miss the sufferfest, I definitely miss these people!

WILDFLOWER 2010

(PSA: look at your water consumption and cut back where possible! We put in a fake lawn several years ago, installed an on-demand water heater last year, saving greywater for plants, switched to a low-flow shower head, and installed a pee/poo flusher option on the toilet).

I don’t have any races on the calendar, though I *may* do Bay to Breakers for fun with friends next weekend. Greg might do Vineman Monte Rio, if there’s enough water in the Russian River… I just can’t be bothered to swim/bike/run all at once right now. I haven’t swum since the Santa Barbara Tri!

Still Staying Active
While I am not following a specific training plan, I’m not loafing either. My goal this year is different: look good and feel confident in a bathing suit/naked. You can shake your head all your want; I don’t care how trivial it sounds to anyone else. Body image is something I struggle with and I decided to make it a goal for myself. This goal requires an an entirely different approach to diet and exercise than training for endurance events. Most of my workouts are 30 minutes or less and involve high intensity intervals. My diet includes minimal carbs and much smaller portions than when I was training 20 hours per week. I have not given up wine, obviously.

I also find reasons to walk/run more places. I got the new Garmin Vivofit activity tracker and it is a great excuse to take a walk around the block after a couple of hours of computer work and walk downtown to pick up those last minute groceries. I find myself purposely pulling into the parking spot farthest away and incorporating walks into my social time with friends.

Daily sMiles
Now that I’m not training and/or exhausted all the time, I spend a lot of quality active time with Miles. We run/hike/swim at Water Dog Park in Belmont a couple of times a week, which is fantastic except for the poison oak he gets into. Greg and I are both very allergic and itchy spots pop up on us all the time.

Tahoe
It was far from an epic winter in Tahoe, but we turned the few times there into fun times. We celebrated Keith’s 50th birthday in March and I learned time and again that working from The Van is very productive.

Girlfriend Getaways
My local girlfriends did our annual getaway to Murphys this year. We drank a bunch of wine, met new friends, excelled at Cards Against Humanity, and had a wonderful weekend in the Sierra Foothills.

My family and I successfully completed the 9th Annual Sisters Trip in March, this time with a beautifully-appointed rental home in Aptos. More laughter, drinking, walks on the beach, and life-changing conversations. I’m so glad we set aside the time and money for this trip each year.

Which one is not like the others?

We have some fun stuff planned as summer nears. I won’t let six months go by without posting again!

Miles and his brother Tater were reunited after 12+ months of not seeing each other.

Miles on the left

They seemed to remember each other and played as though they had never been separated. So many of the same likes/preferences and mannerisms, so many similar expressions. And they can both fit 2+ tennis balls in their mouths!

Miles in front

You can see that Tater’s hair is longer and he is a bit taller than Miles, though Miles is more “filled out” than Tater.

They are both smart dogs who have responded well to training. They are both very affectionate with humans and other animals, though Tater is more submissive than Miles is. He displayed typical submissive behavior of licking Miles’ mouth and ears and deferring to Miles initiating play.

It’s so hard to believe these ~75 pound dogs were 1/10th of that when we met them:

Miles on the left

Just for fun, here are a few more pictures of them playing. A couple of these include Caryn’s other dog, Rutzie. The way she was playing that day, no one would guess that sweet girl is going to be 11 next month!

For the first time in four years, Greg and I competed in the Santa Barbara Triathlon this year. While I can’t admit to being gung-ho about the race, I love Santa Barbara and we have a bunch of friends there so I knew it would be a fun weekend.

You’ll recall that we raced on June 16 and I pretty much stopped all tri training from there. I still worked out 5-6 days/week, and it felt so good to do what I felt like doing (which was never swim/bike/run at prescribed distances and speeds). Miles and I would go on runs together, I would still ride my bike home from work, but otherwise it was HIIT workouts, yoga, and other quick-hit things. I finally “got serious” about training after 4th of July. That left ~7 weeks to whip myself into shape for a 1 mile swim + 34 mile bike + 10 mile run.

Olympic distance race? No problem. But this was longer than that, and the 10-mile run was the obvious culprit. I spent a couple of weeks working myself back up to running 10 milers and then did 10 mile runs every weekend until the race. My right knee was giving me all kinds of trouble and I was contemplating signing up for the aquabike race instead. In the end, I gutted it out.

SWIM – 34:18
I was unpleasantly surprised at how cold the water was in sunny Santa Barbara! Greg and I swim in the San Francisco Bay and the water here is warmer than it was there. Not only that, the water was a bit choppy on race morning. I drank A LOT of salt water. <– Wait for it!!

Mostly, it would behoove me to swim in a straight line.

T1 – 3:02
They changed the transition area, making it so that you not only had to run uphill on the sandy beach, you had to run the length of the entire transition area before being allowed to enter the transition area to find your stuff. Everything there went off without a hitch. No better than my swim went, I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the bikes near me still there.

BIKE – 2:02:18
It was a lovely day for a bike ride. I kept telling myself that. If it had been *just* a bike ride, I would have been in heaven. If I had signed up for the aquabike and didn’t have a 10-mile run hanging over my head, I would have been pleased. If I could have stopped and collected every perfect avocado that I saw in the trees and along the street, I’d be smothering everything in guacamole until Christmas.

I think they changed the bike course a bit from the last time I did it, and the change included an extra hill. That certainly didn’t help matters. Regardless of an extra hill or not, my legs felt flat. I woke up with sore hip flexors on Saturday morning, which I’m pretty sure is because I led the Martz boys in some calisthenics on Friday. I didn’t want to push myself too hard on the bike, trying to leave myself enough to get through the run. I had hoped for a 17 mph average, but couldn’t pull it off in the end.

T2 – 3:04
Depending on where your stuff is in the transition area, T2 is either super short or super long. In my case, I had to run the entire length of a parking lot TWICE, just to get to the actual start of the run. I wanted to take my first walk break when I hit the timing mat signaling I could begin running.

RUN – 1:37:42
Actually, the run started off better than usual. I was chatting with a guy until we got past Shoreline Park, which is most of the way up the big hill. I saw Greg at my Mile 2 and he was on his way to a strong finish. I saw Kidder just before my Mile 4, and Joe Andrulaitis about a half mile after him. I took the opportunity to walk through the Mile 4 aid station to eat a GU and wash it down with water. I knew it would be all downhill at the turnaround. Ahhhh.

The saltwater had been plotting its revenge all this time and the GU was a catalyst in the revolution. The last half of the run was an exercise in contracting my sphincter while maintaining something of a run. This was neither fast nor efficient. I took several walk breaks to hold it all together. Of course, there were bathrooms along the way, but I’ve been in this situation before and with ~3 miles left, it was better to finish and go all at once than to try to go a little bit here and make it a few yards down the road and need to go again.

As I headed into the finisher’s chute, everyone was there cheering me on. I looked at Greg and said, “I’m about to shit my pants!” I crossed the finish line and Nancy snapped this picture of me:

I then asked her to kindly escort me to the nearest restroom. I made it!

Total race time of 4:20:24. Not my best work. Pffft!! I put the bare minimum of training into it and got through a tough course. When Greg and I were reunited, he had already been recovering for over an hour and was ready for his first beer.

I’m DONE FOR THE SEASON. Bring on the short workouts and leisurely runs with Miles!

Long time, no talk. It would take me ages to go into detail about all the stuff I’ve been doing, so I’ll be brief and show you a bunch of pictures. Then we’ll be caught up and hopefully I can get back to more regular posts.

After Vineman Monte Rio, I traveled to Milwaukee for work. That’s right: back to the scene of Rashconsin. Luckily, I did not contract syphilis or anything like it this year. Also, I have to tell you how enjoyable it was to get in a morning run each day without the pressure of Ironman hanging over my head!

I’ll say it again, if you haven’t been to Milwaukee, it is worth going there. The city is beautiful, the people are nice, and there is more to do there than I would have ever thought.

On June 16, Greg and I competed in the Reservoir Triathlon. They changed the date on this year, but it’s the same Olympic distance event we did in June last year. We went to the race site on Saturday evening to run the dog around before settling into The Van for the evening.

I signed up on race morning and didn’t really know what to expect out of my legs. I also tried to tell myself not to expect too much out of them… Having done this race last year (4th place finish, remember?), at least I knew what to expect of the course.

Below is a picture of the swim course on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, the entire thing was shrouded in fog. In fact, all the athletes had made our way down to the water’s edge for the race start and they delayed us by 15 minutes to give the fog more time to burn off. The race announcers kept saying, “Just swim out, following the people on paddleboards. You’ll eventually see a big buoy.”

I generally swim pretty straight and knew where I was going from last year, so this vague instruction didn’t cause me much anxiety. By the time I turned the buoy, the fog had burned off and it was a gorgeous day to race. I certainly felt my legs on the bike and wondered what I’d have left for the run. It turns out that doing Olympic distance events two weeks apart with one week of standing on a concrete floor working a trade show will actually cause fatigue. Lesson learned.

The run was a 2-loop out-and-back this year. You know how much I hate two loops. I saw Greg as I headed out on my first lap, he was about two miles out from the finish. He looked like he was suffering a bit, but still strong. It was a mental test to run past the finish line and head back out for my second loop…

Good enough for — you guessed it — 4th place! My time from 2012 would have netted me 2nd place, but I certainly did not have that effort in me that day. This race is great because they bring in Pizza My Heart and craft beer for the after party. We took the coast route home, enjoying sunshine and beaches all afternoon.

June continued to be very busy, with a J.Hilburn conference in Las Vegas the following weekend. I learned so much and met some amazing people, which is really helping me build my business. Seeing other people be successful is a very good motivator! This conference was held at The Cosmopolitan. I am not a Vegas person, and this hotel is configured in such a way that I never had to walk through a smoke-filled casino to get to my room, the restaurants and bars, and the conference hall. For me, that’s about the only kind of win I’ll see in that city.

The Chandelier Bar is stunning

We hosted the Martz family for 4th of July, then headed to Tahoe to spend the weekend mountain biking and exploring hidden Alpine lakes. The Martz boys are 10 and 6 years old and had fun “surfing” in the lagoon.

Mountain biking is not usually my strong suit, but Jennifer talked us into a route that would be challenging enough for Greg and fun enough for her and me. She was right! The best part was that we parked at a trailhead by a lake and had the whole place to ourselves for booze & snacks after the ride.

The key to being happy was choosing to ride with platform pedals and regular shoes instead of clip-in pedals/shoes. I was able to put my foot down easily and often without the stress of being able to get it unclipped. This ride was 10 miles of challenging fun for me!

We began training again in July, this time for the Santa Barbara Triathlon on August 24. We haven’t done this race in four years and it will be good to go after it again. It’s a 1 mile swim, 34 mile ride, and 10 mile run. In addition to the regular training, I have been doing long runs every week for a month now, hoping that 10 miles is what “a normal run” feels like on race day. I’m not holding my breath on that one, but it does feel good to go that distance week after week.

Oh, and just because the picture is too adorable, here are the little ones I take care of splashing around in the sprinkler a couple of weeks ago. Summer fun!

Okay, we’re all caught up! I need to do a Van-centric post with all the updates Greg has made. I promise I’ll get to that. And even when I can’t do a full post, I’ll at least put up some pictures so you don’t forget about me. Hope your summer is going well!

I want to share a few Wildflower photos that were taken by friends of ours. First, an early morning shot of all the athletes racing:

The three guys on the left (Joe, Martz, and Kidder’s 14-YO son Kyle) were smart to do the Mountain Bike race. Their race didn’t start for two hours after this photo was taken and their smiles were just as big an hour after that. I’m totally doing that race next year!

Here’s a family shot from after the race. I was happy to be standing at this point. Greg finished about an hour before me and was feeling pretty good. Miles wondered when we were going back to the lake.

Our camping setup is pretty sweet, what with The Van and all. We arrived at our usual spot near Mile 12 and started nesting. Greg rolled out the new awning and carpet and we were ready to welcome visitors.

When the Martzes arrived, their older son Colin took great interest in the van. He has been researching an RV for himself, you see. He’s 10. The one he wants will arrive at his door in Santa Barbara for a mere $130,000. It was so fun to take him through our van and show him how everything works and why we did things a certain way. Apparently he took it to heart.

Two weeks after the race, we got a postcard in the mail, as shown below. It was from the Martzes. Colin had recreated all of Wildflower with Legos, including our van. Nancy took a picture and sent it to us, which will be a memento we keep forever. I love it so much!

As you can see, he built the van setup flawlessly, right down to the awning, bikes mounted to the back, and the sunroof. It even has the hitch on the back bumper! I love that he included me, Greg, and Miles. My favorite part? Greg is holding a bone for the dog and I am holding a bottle of wine. Ha!!

As we get ready to race again this weekend (Vineman Monte Rio), it is fun to look back on Wildflower through these photos. The beauty of Vineman is that it’s an Olympic distance race and we’ll both be done racing by 10:15 AM. Even with temps at 90*, we can enjoy the day on the river.

We went to Tahoe this weekend, likely making it the last winter trip of the season. I *finally* broke even on my Squaw Valley Season Pass and otherwise engaged in a bunch of debauchery with friends. Oh, and there was some triathlon training thrown in for good measure.

We got home at 11 PM Saturday night so we could complete our long ride/run today. Clouds looming, both of us looked at numerous weather sites for hour-by-hour forecasts and set out on our respective rides. The forecasts varied from “sprinkles in the afternoon” to “0% chance precipitation.” Both of us got caught in a cold and windy down-pour. The afternoon ended with a co-ed trip to the hot tub, so all’s well that ends well…

Here are some pics I snapped with my crappy camera phone this weekend, the only ones we have to document our Tahoe 2012-13 season.

Greg and Miles had fun playing on the jungle gym outside Le Chamois.

Off-duty Snow Makers

Jen stopped by the van for 1000 CCs of red wine after working customer service all day.

This entire mountain is usually covered in snow.

One of the three creeks Miles found to play in this weekend.

Spring skiing = flare!

I went for a run around Donner Lake Saturday morning. 8 miles of solitary bliss (at altitude)!

I went to a holiday party last week. It was not your typical holiday party. Upon arriving, the host broke a cascarone over my head. GAME ON.

I was then greeted by a menagerie of percussion instruments, each to be used in the sing-along that would be happening that night. In addition to the claves and cabasa, there was a piano and I heard rumors of a stand-up bassist who would be arriving later. I looked down and saw a trumpet. Inspired by my high school band days, I picked it up and busted out an off-key scale. (Let’s not think about the mouthpiece…) The other party guests took a new interest in me as someone who might contribute something other than shaking a tambourine.

We sang and played until 2 o’clock the next morning. The hangover I suffered until 3 PM the next day was well-worth the fun I had.

Upon arriving home, I was incredibly busy. I was anxious to see friends to relive the event with them while they ooohed and aaahed over my medal and race day anecdotes. I had turned down so many social functions during training that I felt compelled to say yes to everything now that it was over. I also took on a couple of standing babysitting jobs, adding to my busy weeknights.

Medal + Anecdotes + Babies = Happy Molly

During September, I was pretty good about workouts. I was working out ~5 days a week and enjoying it. I was doing things because I wanted to, not because I had to. Bike rides went from 9-hour SufferFests to 1-hour cruises. The weather was still nice and the mornings were still light. I began commuting to/from work on my bike and my coworkers started a TRX regime during lunch, so I was keeping up on my strength workouts as well. But by the end of September, it all caught up with me.

The mornings kept getting darker, and I became more and more disenchanted. I’d set my alarm to work out in the morning and turn it off without getting up 4 mornings out of 5. I spent two gorgeous weekends lazily on the couch because I couldn’t be bothered to do the things I told myself I’d do; I was too tired. Those who know me know that I never even sit down on the weekends, let alone nap on the couch.

I ate copious amounts of carbs. I read 3 books in one month, including Fifty Shades of Grey. (<– I’m not proud of it.) I cut my hair. I flew to Iowa to be a part of my little brother’s wedding, which was an endurance event all on its own.

I am suffering from what I’m calling “latent fatigue.” I’ve basically been running (not literally) on adrenaline and necessity and obligation for the last two months and it’s finally catching up. I want to sleep more, eat more, and move less. I even want to drink less, if you can imagine that. This situation is not doing wonders for my body image, which adds to the general Debbie Downer feeling. Thankfully, I am not a person prone to depression, but I can see where someone who is would really be in trouble.

What I am choosing to do is honor my body and give it what it needs. I’m not beating myself up for choosing to sleep instead of workout. I’m allowing myself small portions of the treats I crave. I say no to a second glass bottle of wine. I am thanking my body for the unwavering service it provided during the last 10 months of Ironman training and recovery.